SCOTUSblog:
Two years after the Supreme Court last ruled on abortion restrictions, a new test case is likely on its way to the Court, perhaps reaching there by next Fall. Responding to an order by the Justices to take a new look at a Virginia abortion ban, the Fourth Circuit Court on Wednesday upheld the law. The en banc Court divided, 6-5, in sustaining the law against claims that it would criminalize the most common method of abortions performed in the second trimester.
The case of Richmond Medical Center, et al., v. Herring (Circuit docket 03-1821) is developing as a sequel to the Justices’ 5-4 ruling in 2007 in Gonzales v. Carhart, upholding a federal ban on a procedure its critics call a “partial-birth abortion.” The Fourth Circuit’s opinion, concurrence and dissent can be downloaded here.
